Playboy Deletes Their Facebook Account Amidst Privacy Controversy

#DeleteFacebook has been trending for a over a week now, since the widely reported and very complicated Cambridge Analytica scandal rocked the social media juggernaut, in relation to potential sharing of sensitive user data during the recent US election.

Now, in a bold business manoeuvre from the same bloke who decided to put the smut back into his father’s beloved (and revolutionary) nudie mag, Cooper Hefner has announced via Twitter that men’s-entertainment-conglomerate-that-you-only-buy-for-the-articles Playboy is deleting their huge presence from the now beleaguered social media platform.

Citing the fact that Facebook’s content guidelines and corporate policies contradict his brand’s values, he claimed that Playboy “tried to craft our voice for the platform, which in our opinion continues to be sexually repressive”.

Playboy had over 25 million fans on their Facebook page, and with over four million unique monthly visitors to their website, it will be interesting to see how much of a hit they take in their overall traffic as a result of this brazen move.

Hefner also cited the possible meddling in the US election as a reason, saying: ” “Learning of the recent meddling in a free U.S. election further demonstrates another concern we have of how they handle users’ data … making it clear to us that we must leave the platform.”

This isn’t the first time the young (Cooper is only 26) Chief Creative Officer has made a bold decision. It was his hand that decided to reintroduce nudity to the magazine last year, after a whole year with a no-nudity policy (that saw newsstand sales skyrocket 28 percent, a number almost unheard of in the digital age of publishing).

When harnessed effectively, Facebook has the potential to be a huge cash-cow for publishers and their partnered brands. Given the latest controversy, and Playboy’s decision, it will be very interesting to see if other big names follow suit.